


Din's Jedi Captain

by LeeMorrigan



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Baby Yoda - Freeform, Childhood Friends, F/M, First chapter flashback, Found Families, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, I don't believe in sad endings, Jedi, Little kid Din, No Smut, Papa Din
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29856780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeMorrigan/pseuds/LeeMorrigan
Summary: Ayden Clecher and her mother were taken in by the Mandalorians after her mother saved a Mandalorian's life. During her years with the Mandalorians, she was befriended by a young Din Djarin. They grew up together. Inseparable best friends. Until an attack cast the Mandalorian settlement to the four winds. Almost thirty years later, will these two old friends recognize each other, a half-trained renegade Jedi and a Baskar-clad former bounty hunter?
Relationships: Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 13





	Din's Jedi Captain

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: Post season 2
> 
> Triggers: Unless the concept of being in a helmet bothers you, chapt1 should be safe.

Ayden Clecher rubbed her scar as she watched the Mandalorian children playing. She was one of the youngest children in the settlement and she wasn’t Mandalorian. Not really.

Thanks to a ball to the forehead, Ayden’s head hurt and she was tucked under a table watching from below the tablecloth as the bigger kids played a ball game. The younger kids had taken the hint and gotten lost. Not Ayden. She had kept playing until that ball hit her hard enough to rattle all of her teeth.

Two of the elder boys were kicking a ball around, their helmets hiding their faces but their laughter still loud and clear. An older girl stole the ball, running faster than either of the boys and kicking it to score a goal. The big kids all cheered or growled, depending which team they were on.

“You hidin’ again?”

Ayden looked over to see the face of her very best friend in all the galaxy. Din Djarin. He was older than her by about three years and never was mean to her.

“Fika hit me with the ball. I’m plotting revenge.”

Din smiled, shaking his head slightly.

“What?”

“Nothin’.”

For a while, they just laid down under the table to keep watching the game. After a while, she felt Din’s hand move over to hold hers.

“Why didn’t you come get me?”

“I’m good at plotting. Didn’t need help yet.”

He nodded.

“Why’d you come looking for me under the table?”

Din smiled over at her. He was almost as old as the two helmeted boys in the game. Ayden worried about what would happen when he was considered old enough to swear the Mandalorian Creed. Would he still want to be friends with the little freak and her non-Mandalorian mama?

“You’re always hidden.”

She had to admit that he was right. She did hide a lot.

“I think later, I’m gonna hide the ball under the smith’s tool chest. Everybody’s scared of her, they won’t go in there looking.”

“Could work.”, he answered as they continued watching the game.

“I could tell Ninna the ball is up on a roof. He hates heights.”

“You’ll need help getting the ball up.”

“Figured you’d keep a lookout and I’d sneak the ball into her toolchest.”

Din let out a sigh.

“Why am I always the lookout?”

“Cause you’re not quiet enough to be the sneaker. And I’m the Captain, so I tell you what to do. If you ask nice, I might let you be my first mate instead of just the lookout.”

They watched the game for several more minutes before Ayden thought she had plotted enough. It was also boring watching the big kids play. They only cared about winning. They didn’t even care about the rules.

As they sat there, Ayden was glad she had Din. He took care of all the littler kids, but he was her best friend. Even when some of the big kids made fun of him for hanging out with the smaller kids, he did not stop or let it bother him. Ayden liked that about him. Din was always just Din.

Ayden rolled out from under the table to leave it between her back and the game. Din crawled backwards and sat beside her.

“I’m bored. And hungry.”, she said as she kicked some dirt, then smiled brightly at Din as she asked, “I’m hungry, wanna get food?”

“Sure.”

He watched as she quickly hopped up onto her feet and took off towards the kitchen. After their most recent attempt at living in a space place where the adults could work, the group of them had come to this settlement. They had one kitchen, one area for mechanical work, a small cantina for drinking, and their houses were little more than tents with two solid sides and two cloth.

None of it seemed to upset Ayden much. He had noticed she got mad easy, but she didn’t easily upset. When some of the bigger kids had been pushing Din around, Addie had charged them, plowing into one with her shoulder and knocking him flat into the wall behind him.

By the time the adults had broken it up, Ayddie had bloodied her knuckles and nose, Din had a broken nose and bruises all over, and the one bigger kid had a slight concussion while the other two had serious bruises and the burly one had Addie’s teeth marks in his arm from trying to wrestle her to the ground. Her mother had been very upset. They were guests of the Mandalorians and she expected Ayden to be better behaved. The Smithy, she had chuckled and said Ayden would make a great warrior someday.

As they entered the kitchen, old man Tyran smiled over at them. Tyran had married a Mandalorian but was not himself a Mando. He was the resident cook and Din thought the man told the best stories.

“Hello, Captain Ayden. Ah, I see you’ve got your first mate there with you. What can I do you for?”

“Hungry. What’s good today?”, Ayddie asked as she hopped up onto a tall chair.

Din had to reach out to help her, so she didn’t teeter over the side. Then, he hopped up into the chair beside hers. Tyran came over with two bowls for them.

“Here you go. Two servings of my stew.”

Addie was already inhaling as Din gave a nod to Tyran.

“Thank you.”

Addie looked up, her eyes wide as she realized she had been rude.

“Oh, sorry. Thank you so much, Tyran!”

The older man chuckled as he fixed himself a drink.

“Don’t worry about it, Captain. I take it as a compliment of the highest calibre when someone is too caught up in my food to remember their manners. Means I’m a good cook.”

“The best! When I get my own ship, I might have to have you come cook for my crew.”

“Promise?”

She grinned up at him, nodding with her mouth full of his stew. Din smiled, shaking his head at her. Tyran walked off to take care of a boiling pot, leaving them to enjoy the meal.

“You really want him to come cook on our ship?”, Din asked quietly between bites.

“My ship.”

“I’m gonna be your first mate.”

“Still my ship. You can have a room that’s yours though.”

“Two rooms?”, he asked teasingly.

Ayddie looked him over, her face serious as she chewed. She swallowed, still looking at him with her brow furrowed.

“Okay. Two rooms. But the helm is mine.”

“You’re the Captain.”

“Yes. I’m gonna be a famous bounty hunter Captain and you’re gonna be my first mate. We’ll catch all the bad guys and bring them in, and we’ll be rich.”

“But we’ll share.”

“With the people who’ve been nice to us.”

“Which excludes Ninna and his brother.”

Ayddie scrunched up her face as if she’d eaten something sour.

“Not them. They can make their own credits.”

He just chuckled as Ayddie went back to her stew. They had been friends ever since two Mandalorians brought Ayden and her mother to join the rest of the Mandalorian group. Her mom had had her on Hoth and later, when the two Mandos crashed, she had saved their lives getting them away from the wreck and then patching them up, keeping them alive till help came.

Ayddie had arrived, 4 years old, small, with a thick scar between her left eyebrow and the hairline. Her big eyes looked at everything. When Din went to talk to her, she asked him a few questions. He answered them as best he could. Two days later, she had introduced him to her mother as her best friend.

“Din?”

“Hm?”, he tried to answer with his mouth full.

Ayddie looked a little worried. He wondered what was going through her brain.

“We’ll always be best friends, right?”

“Of course.”

Her smile could have split her chubby face. Din smiled back, then went back to his food.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Din carefully recited the Creed, as the Smith finished hammering out his helmet. As he grew, new helmets would be made. Din was worried he would say the oath wrong or disappoint the Mandalorians. He had lived among them for several years now but he had not been born among them. He was a foundling.

The man in front of him, armor gleaming in the fading sunlight, recited the Creed for Din. Din repeated the Oath back to the assembled Mandalorians. Today was the day he became a real Mandalorian.

Once the swearing was complete, the Smith walked over with Din’s helmet. The ultimate sign of a Mandalorian. Din bowed his head respectfully, staying perfectly still as she fitted the helmet over his head. She snapped the chin strap on and gripped his shoulder as she said his name.

“Now, rise Mandalorian.”

A chorus rang out, “This is the Way.”

Din rose to his feet, allowing the Smith to guide him to turn around, facing the room. Many of the adult Mandalorians were in attendance of his swearing, and all seemed to look on with pride. All, except for one chubby face in the very rear of the room.

When Din locked eyes with her, he saw her chin tremble and her eyes watering. She turned and ran. Din could not follow her till the ceremony was complete.

Half an hour later, when Din finally located her. Ayddie was curled up, as far up into a tree as she could climb, quietly crying. Din carefully climbed up to meet her.

Once he had gotten settled on a branch near Ayddie, Din looked her over. His helmet was not as advanced as what the adults wore, though it gave him a lot of information his naked eyes hadn’t.

“Ayddie?”

When she looked up, Din was in for another surprise he had not thought of. The red tint of the vizor. It made her swollen, puffy eyes look even worse.

“What’s wrong, Ayddie?”

Instead of answering him, she rushed out of the tree. Din sighed. Most wouldn’t chase Ayddie, but Din wasn’t most people. He was her best friend.

It took a while for her to lose steam and stop. She crawled up under a porch. One of her favorite hidey holes.

All around her were her things. A lamp, a bow of tools, a rug laid out to allow her a place to sit without messing up the seat of her pants. It was her little hideaway.

“Addie, why are you crying?”

She shook her head.

“Was it Ninna?”

She shook her head again. Din reached, catching her left hand.

“You can tell me.”

She let out a long breath.

“I’ll never see your eyes again.”

“What?”

Ayddie’s sniffles and shaking shoulders made her harder to understand.

“I’ll never see your eyes again. Or your face.”

He shook his head. Leaning closer,

“Someday, I won’t have to wear the helmet anymore. When my fighting days are over.”

She shook her head, still sniffling, and curled up on herself in a hideyhole. Din was worried now. Aydie always believed him when he made her a promise.

She told him, “You’ll go fight and be brave and forget all about me. Then, someday you’ll marry some Mandalorian girl, and you’ll both take off your Baskar and live happily ever after, and you’ll never think about me ever again.”

Ayddie finished with a hard hiccup that made Din’s chest hurt in sympathy. She looked so small and sad, curled up and head hanging.

He tugged on her hand and told her, “You’re my best friend, Ayddie. I’ll never forget you. I promise.”

Ayddie shook her head. Din nudged her with his elbow, waiting.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Mandalorians never break their word. You still wanna promise me, Mandalorian?”

Din smiled under the helmet, reaching to offer his hand to shake on it. Dnd she did.

“I swear to you, I’ll never forget my best friend, Ayden Clecher, future bounty hunter captain.”

That got him a small smile. Din leaned closer, his tone quiet and his gestures wild.

“And when you’ve got your own ship and you’re a famous bounty hunter, don’t forget the co-pilot’s chair belongs to me.”

She had laughed, her tears forgotten as she flung herself forward to hug him. Din hugged her back. No matter what, she was always going to be his best friend and he was hers.

“If you ask me nice.”


End file.
